profile pic ian.jpg

Welcome to Kicking the Seat!

Ian Simmons launched Kicking the Seat in 2009, one week after seeing Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia. His wife proposed blogging as a healthier outlet for his anger than red-faced, twenty-minute tirades (Ian is no longer allowed to drive home from the movies).

The Kicking the Seat Podcast followed three years later and, despite its “undiscovered gem” status, Ian thoroughly enjoys hosting film critic discussions, creating themed shows, and interviewing such luminaries as Gaspar Noé, Rachel Brosnahan, Amy Seimetz, and Richard Dreyfuss.

Ian is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He also has a family, a day job, and conflicted feelings about referring to himself in the third person.

Ep1016: SORRY/NOT SORRY (2024) - Movie Review

Ep1016: SORRY/NOT SORRY (2024) - Movie Review

Ian Simmons

In the mid-2010s, comedian Louis C.K. was celebrated for his profane and imaginative observational humor, which he shared with fans worldwide via cutting-edge standup, TV shows, and movies. At the height of the #MeToo movement, his career was destroyed by allegations of inappropriate conduct going back decades--conduct that he did not deny (after he got caught).

The new documentary, Sorry/Not Sorry, by co-directors Cara Mones and Caroline Suh profiles three of the women who came forward, while also chronicling the culture of open secrets and opportunism that was perpetuated by C.K. and a who's who of comedy giants. In today's episode (which runs longer than the doc itself), Ian and Jeff break open a film that has the investigative cache of being a New York Times production--but which misses several glaring areas where a deep dive (and/or pushback) would have painted a less propagandistic picture.

The guys talk about C.K. as an artist, a power-broker, and a deviant who needed therapy rather than enabling; Mones and Suh's dancing around their subjects' agency; and whether or not cancel culture exists (the jury may be out until this episode goes up!).

Subscribe, like, and comment to the Kicking the Seat YouTube channel, and check out kickseat.com for multiple movie podcasts each week!

Show Links

  • Watch the Sorry/Not Sorry (2024) trailer.

  • Read Jeff's Sorry/Not Sorry review at The Establishing Shot!

  • Can't get enough of Jeff? Check out his words and artwork at Pipeline Artists.

Ep1017: If You Like LONGLEGS (2024), You'll Love MANHUNTER (1986)

Ep1017: If You Like LONGLEGS (2024), You'll Love MANHUNTER (1986)
Ep1015: MAXXXINE (2024) - Round Table Review

Ep1015: MAXXXINE (2024) - Round Table Review